Pouch and method for the preparation thereof



Nov. 26, 1968 D RALPH 3,412,111

POUCH AND METHOD FOR THE PREPARATION THEREOF Filed June 26, 1967 2 Sheets-Shed} INVENTOR. 00/70/04}. Ra/pb D. J. RALPH 3,412,771

THE PREPARATION THEREOF Nov. 26, 1968 POUCH AND METHOD FGR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 26, 1967 v INVENTOR. Oofla/ad R0406 BY United States Patent f 3,412,771 POUCH AND METHOD FOR THE PREPARATION THEREOF Donald J. Ralph, Strongsville, Ohio, assignor to The Dow ChemicallCompany, Midland, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Filed June 26, 1967, Ser. No. 648,616 6 Claims. (Cl. 150-7) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A pouch is prepared from a flexible sheet, the sheet having a first surface and a second surface, at least the first surface being heat sealable to itself to provide a high strength bond, and the second surface being heat sealable to the first surface to give a low strength bond.

This invention relates to an improved pouch and the method for the preparation thereof, and more particularly relates to an improved pouch particularly adapted to be prepared from coated paper.

Pouches of paper are well known and have been employed for many applications. Particularly popular is a paper tobacco pouch holding from about one to about two ounces of tobacco. Such pouches beneficially should be readily prepared and provide a product which offers protection to the contents thereof and ease and convenience to the user. Such a pouch should be readily fabricated in a simple manner, easily opened by the consumer when access to the contents is desired and subsequently recloseable to provide at least temporary protection to the contents.

These benefits and other advantages in accordance with the present invention are achieved in a pouch, the pouch comprising a pouch body, the pouch body being a thin, flexible sheet of generally rectangular configuration having an inner surface and an outer surface, the inner surface having disposed thereon a heat sealable synthetic resin, the outer surface having disposed thereon a synthetic resinous coating to which the inner surface heat seals to provide a low strength heat seal, the pouch body comprising a first side, a second side, a flap end and a lip end, the pouch body having a front panel disposed adjacent the lip end and a rear panel disposed adjacent the flap end, the lip end of the pouch being folded upon itself to form a first fold in such a manner that the inner surface is in contiguous adjacent relationship with itself, the front panel being folded upon the rear panel in such a manner that a major portion of the inner surface of the front panel and the inner surface of the rear panel are in longitudinal adjacent relationship, the lip portion being disposed adjacent the flap end, the rear panel and flap end extending a greater distance than the front panel, the flap end being folded over the lip portion edge of the first and second sides of the front panel and rear panel being in contiguous adjacent relationship and being sealed together to provide a seal of relatively high strength, the lip portion being sealed to the rear panel to provide a seal of low strength relative to the edge seals, the flap end being folded over the lip end and heat sealed thereto at a location adjacent the lip end to provide a relatively weak seal between the flap and the lip end of the front panel, a portion of the flap extending away from the lip end defining an unsealed portion adapted to be manually grasped.

Pouches in accordance with the present invention are readily prepared in accordance with the method of the present invention which comprises providing a sheet of thin, flexible pouch forming material having a first end, a first side, and a second side, the flexible material having Patented Nov. 26, 1968 an inner face and an outer face, the inner face having a coating of synthetic resinous material thereon which is capable of being sealed to itself to form a relatively high strength bond, an outer face having a coating thereon which is capable of being heat sealed to the inner face to give a low strength bond, folding a relatively narrow portion of the end upon itself to position the inner surface in contiguous relationship, subsequently forming a second fold to form a front panel having a dimension substantially greater than the first fold and positioning the inner surface in contiguous relationship, sealing the first and second edge portions of the folded portions together to form an open-mouthed pouch, adding a material to the pouch, folding a flap portion of the sheet adjacent the first fold over the first fold to position the flap portion of the inner face adjacent the outer face, subsequently heat sealing the flap portion to the first portion.

Further features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following specification when taken in connection with the drawing where- FIGURES 1-5 schematically illustrate the formation of a pouch in accordance with the method of the invention.

In FIGURE 6 there is depicted a finished pouch in accordance with the present invention.

In FIGURE 1 there is schematically represented a portion of flexible sheet material generally designated by the reference numeral 10. The sheet material 10 has a first or lip end 11, a first side 12 and a second side 13. The sheet 10 has an inner or first surface 15 formed of a heat sealable synthetic resinous material capable of providing a high strength heat seal. The sheet 10 has an outer or second surface 16 of a material capable of forming a low strength heat seal when in contact with the surface 15. The sheet 10 has a flap end 17 remotely disposed from the lip end 11.

In FIGURE 2 there is depicted the sheet 10 wherein a first fold 20 is formed thereon on the lip end 11 placing portions of the surface 15 in contiguous relationship. The first fold 20 forms a narrow lip panel 21.

In FIGURE 3 there is depicted the sheet 10 of FIGURE 2 wherein a second fold 22 is formed thereby providing a front panel 23 and a rear panel 24 with the inner surface 15 in contiguous relationship. The folds 20 and 22 are generally parallel and the panel 23 is of substantially greater dimension than the panel 21. A flap portion 25 is disposed adjacent the first fold 20.

In FIGURE 4 a first seal 27 and a second seal 28 are formed at the edges 12 and 13 securing the front panel 23 to the rear panel 24 along the edge portion and forming a cavity 29 thereby forming a pouch generally designated by the reference numeral 30.

In FIGURE 5 there is depicted the pouch 30 having a material 31 disposed within the cavity 29.

In FIGURE 6 there is shown the pouch 30 wherein the flap portion 25 is folded over the first fold or lip portion 20 and the front panel 23 and is secured thereto by means of a. transverse seal 33 disposed remote from the terminal edge 34, the flap portion 25 remote from the rear panel 23 thereby providing the manually graspable opening flap 25a.

In the practice of the method of the present invention, the particular composition of the resin on the inner face and the outer face are not critical. The essential characteristics are that when the inner face is sealed to itself a strong seal results, and when the outer face is sealed to the inner face, a relatively weak seal results. Beneficially, a weak seal formed between the inner face and the outer face is sufficiently weak that when such a seal is peeled apart manually the integrity of the coating on either surface is not destroyed. Such coatings and combinations are well known in the art. Typical representative combinations are: Polypropylene and polyethylene, rubber hydrochloride and polyethylene, a copolymer of 85 percent vinylidene chloride, 15 percent vinyl chloride and a copolymer of 80 percent vinylidene chloride and 20 percent acrylonitrile, nitrocellulose and polyethylene. Many other such coatings are described in U.S. Patent 3,259,507 wherein one or more coatings are employed to provide the desired function.

By way of further illustration, a tobacco pouch is prepared from 25 pound pouch paper, coated on one side with a half mil coating of polyethylene and on the opposite side with a nitrocellulose lacquer. The coated paper is slit to a width of about inches and a length of about inches. One end of the strip is folded 180 upon itself to form a first fold one half inch wide with the polyethylene coated surfaces being adjacent. The strip of paper is then folded at a point about 4 inches from the first fold to provide a second fold wherein the polyethylene coated surfaces are facing except in the area of the first fold wherein the nitrocellulose coated surface is adjacent the polyethylene. Thus, the first fold forms the lip portion of the pouch and a flap portion extends between the lip portion. The edges of the second fold and the first fold are heat sealed as indicated in FIGURE 4 of the drawing employing a .heat sealing bar with a temperature of about 375 F. One ounce of tobacco is placed within the pouch formed by the sealing of the first and second folds. The nitrocellulose coated portion of the first fold is heat sealed to the adjacent polyethylene coated surface employing a bar sealer with a temperature of about 300 F. The remaining extending portion of the paper strip or flap portion is folded over and sealed about one half inch from its terminal edge to the pouch body wherein the polyethylene coated surface contacts the nitrocellulose coated surface. The pouch is readily opened as the polyethylene to nitrocellulose seals are weak relative to the polyethylene-polyethylene side seals.

A roll of paper 6 inches in width coated on one side with rubber hydrochloride and on the opposite side with polyethylene is fed into a pouch making machine. The end portion of the coated paper is folded upon itself to form a first fold about one half inch in width. To place polyethylene surfaces in adjacent relationship in the manner shown in FIGURE 2, a second fold is made as shown in FIGURE 3, the edge portions sealed to form a pouch at the terminal end of the coated paper strip forming the roll, the paper strip severed a distance of about one and one half inches from the terminal portion of the first fold and remote from the second fold, the pouch filled and sealed as in the previous illustration. Similar results are obtained.

Similar beneficial results are obtained when pouches are manufactured from a substrate having coatings of polypropylene and polyethylene, rubber hydrochloride and polyethylene, a copolymer of 5 percent vinylidene chloride, percent vinyl chloride and a copolymer of 88 percent vinylidene chloride and percent acrylonitiile and peelable coatings disclosed in U.S. Patent 3,259,507.

What is claimed is:

1. A pouch, the pouch comprising a pouch body, the pouch body being a generally rectangular sheet having:

an inner surface,

an outer surface, the inner surface having disposed thereon,

a heat sealable synthetic resin, the outer surface having disposed thereon,

a synthetic resinous coating to which the inner surface heat seals to provide a low strength heat seal, the pouch body comprising:

a first side,

a second side, a flap end, and a lip end, the pouch body having:

a front panel disposed adjacent the lip end 5 and .a rear end disposed adjacent the flap end, the lip end of the pouch being folded upon itself to form a first fold in such a manner that the inner surface is in contiguous adjacent relationship with itself, the front panel being folded upon the rear panel in such a manner that a major portion of the inner surface of the front panel and a major portion of the inner surface of the rear panel are in longitudinal adjacent relationship, the lip portion being disposed adjacent the flap end, the rear panel and the fiap end extending a greater distance than the front panel, the flap end being folded over the lip portion, edges of the first and second sides of the front panel and rear panel being in contiguous adjacent relationship and being sealed together to provide a seal of high strength, the lip portion being sealed to the rear panel to provide a seal of low strength relative to the edge seals, the flap end being folded over the lip and heat sealed thereto at a location adjacent the lip end to provide a relatively weak seal between the flap and the lip end of the front panel.

2. The pouch of claim 1 wherein the thin flexibte sheet is coated paper.

3. The pouch of claim 1 wherein the flap extends away from the seal between the flap and the front panel and defines an unsealed portion adapted to be manually grasped.

4. A method for the fabrication of pouches, the steps of the method comprising:

providing a sheet of thin flexible pouch forming material having first and second ends, and first and second sides, the material having an inner face and an outer face, the inner face having a coating of synthetic resinous material thereon which is capable of being sealed to itself to form a high strength bond, an outer face having a coating thereon which is capable of being sealed to the inner face to give a low strength bond,

folding a relatively narrow portion of the first end upon itself to position the inner surface in contiguous relationship, thereby forming a first fold,

forming a second fold to form a front panel having a dimension substantially greater than the first fold and positioning the inner surface in contiguous relationship,

sealing the first and second edge portions of the folds together to form an open-mouthed pouch,

adding material to be packaged to the pouch,

folding a flap portion of the sheet adjacent the first fold over the first fold to position the flap portion of the inner face adjacent the outer face, subsequently heat sealing the flap portion to the second surface. 6 5. The method of claim 4 wherein the flap portion is heat sealed at a location remote from a terminal portion thereof to thereby leave a manually graspable unsealed portion.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the pouch forming material is coated paper.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,166,224 7/1939 Shaw 22987.5 3,143,278 8/1964 Hiebert 229-62 3,278,109 10/1966 Salway 229-62 DAVID M. BOCKENEK, Primary Examiner.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,412,771 November 26, 1968 Donald J. Ralph It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 3, line 57, "5" should read 85 line 58,

should read 8O Signed and sealed this 10th day of March 1970.

(SEAL) Attest:

WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER, JR.

Edward M. Fletcher, Jr.

Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

